True Reaper Rising
by M.N. Arias
Summary: It has been twenty years since the end of the reaper war, and peace has been brought to the galaxy at large. On a planet thought to be destroyed by the reapers, a young man sits, and waits for the day he can enact his plans on the galaxy. Without anything to hold him back, he is nearly unstoppable. Will he find a his morals before it is too late for the galaxy?
1. Chapter 1

Maikeru stood at the entrance to what was once Project Olympus, his eyes were glowing red as he watched the hollowed out building. It had been years since he destroyed it all, years since he made his point clear. He was a true reaper, all the others were pretending, and now? Now he was the only one left. It had been three years since the Cruicible pulse went off, and three years since Maikeru lost all the voices in his head. He felt surprise at the fact that he was still alive, by all calculations, he should have been dead.

Something was calling him, but he couldn't hear a voice. There was something on the wind, but it wasn't discernible to his senses. Maikeru looked to the sky, and saw a ship falling... no, not a ship. A reaper. Maikeru smiled at the fallen brother, and knew that it was time to show the galaxy what a true reaper was.

Maikeru stood up, and walked over to the reaper corpse, no that term wasn't right. A reaper could never die, it was just asleep. He pressed his hand to it, and felt the many voices trapped inside. It was invigorating, the data and knowledge of an entire race. He wanted to understand all of it, and eventually he would.

Reapers were organic and synthetic, but without the synthetic parts, the organic could not control the body. Maikeru climbed the reaper's body, and knew he could bring the reaper to life. It felt like it was his destiny. He eventually found an opening, and dropped inside.

There were hundreds of reaper husks and corpses inside, but none of them were active. These 'reapers' were dead, but they could be reactivated. Maikeru walked through the darkness, the glowing scars that covered his body lighting the way. He eventually came to the Reaper's core room, and saw what the crucible did. The Reaper's core was completely deactivated, and without the proper energy source would never activate again. Luckily for it, Maikeru had the proper power needed to jump-start it.

The human activated his biotics, a red aura glowing around him, and jumped to the core. "Awaken pretender!" he commanded as he used his biotics to jump-start the Eezo core.

Soon the lights in the machine started lighting up, and the eezo core was glowing. Maikeru started laughing, but soon stopped when the core sent out a pulse, and threw him off. Maikeru was able to flip in the air, and hit the wall feet first. He pushed off, and landed on his feet. "What has become of my brothers?" the reaper asked, its systems were slowly coming online, and it was more than Maikeru could handle.

"Your brothers are asleep, but you, pretender were lucky enough to crash on this planet." Maikeru walked up to the core, his eyes glowing brighter, "Pretender, you will obey me as if I were the Catalyst."

"What shall I call you?" Pretender asked.

"I am your Master," he looked at his tattered clothing, and knew that he should get more appropriate equipment. "How long until you can fly Pretender?"

"As soon as you want me to, Master," Pretender answered, and his core started glowing brighter.

"Take us to the Citadel." Maikeru felt the Reaper begin to rise, and started walking through the reaper's body. He looked through the clothing of the human corpses on the floor, but couldn't find anything that fit him. After what felt like hours, he finally settled on a black button up shirt, and a vest to go over it. He also wore a visor to cover his red eyes. His pants though, they were crimson red, and a bit loose on his body. After all the searching, Michael wasn't able to find any boots, but decided it wouldn't matter.

"Master, the citadel is in sight, and it looks like some of my brothers have awakened from their slumber," Pretender announced as his hologram appeared in front of Maikeru.

Maikeru was completely surprised by this turn of events, and confusion spread across his mind when he realized he couldn't hear the reaper's voices. "No, they haven't." Maikeru realized that these reapers weren't alive at all, "get me an interior scan of their hulls." Within seconds a hologram appeared in front of him, and what he suspected was proven true. "Thy have desecrated these pretenders... While I do not like it, it does give me an interesting idea. Send out the Citadel fleet IFF."

"As you wish Master."

Maikeru knew he would be able to bypass the Citadel fleet's defenses with his new slave, and started planning how to make the Citadel the greatest flagship in the galaxy. Without raising a single suspicion, the reaper flew through the fleet, that was until they were in the middle.

"Master, they are ordering us to stop."

"Then oblige them of their request," Maikeru laughed, knowing full well what the Citadel fleet wanted to do.

* * *

**Humanity's councillor office  
**

"Councilor Shepard, a situation has come up." An asari secretary entered the room, and put the data-pad she was carrying on Shepard's desk.

John Shepard looked at the pad, and his eyes widened with fear, "Why isn't this reaper registered, and how did it get here?"

"We are trying to figure that out, but we don't detect an indoctrination field around the reaper, but according to our scanners, there is only one life form on it."

"Have you discovered what species they are?"

"According to the reading we received, we assume it is human."

"Assume?"

"Well, it is the closest known species that the vital signs resemble, but there are some differences."

"Like what?" Shepard face filled with bewilderment. Was this a new species that could control the reapers, or was it something else entirely?

"I don't know the details, but the gist is that the being, whatever it is, is releasing enough dark energy from its body to power a dreadnought."

"How is that even possible, that would mean we are dealing with a sentient Eezo reactor. Send in a team with anti-indoctrination gear. See what this unknown life-form is."

"Yes Councilor, I will see to it right away. Should I send Spectre Urdnot Grunt to lead the team?" the asari asked as she bowed.

"Yes, have Grunt lead the team, he'll be ready for anything." Shepard stood up and looked out the window, he stroked his unshaven face, and wondered what this meant. Whatever it was, it wasn't good.

* * *

**I think I'll end this here, it seems like a good place to end it, and leaves a bit of a cliffhanger for everyone who decided to read this. So if you have any questions, or see something wrong, leave it in the reviews.**


	2. So called Genetic Perfection

The first Krogan Spectre, Grunt, was waiting for the shuttle to come to a stop, but his patience was running thin. There was a reaper outside, and he was going to destroy it. What better way to prove to the galaxy that his genes were indeed perfection. Grunt looked to his team, it consisted mostly of turians with humans, Salarians, and asari, and to his surprise, a batarian. Among them, there are no familiar faces, and that pissed Grunt off. They gave him a squad that he didn't know, and hoped he could fight a reaper.

"Excuse me, sir..." one of the Salarians looked at Grunt, "Do you think... that this reaper is really a-alive?" His sickly green skin made him look more like a coward than his voice, and he could barely hold the gun. Grunt couldn't blame him though, he had seen first hand what a reaper could do to people.

Grunt's made his face impassive as he attempted to mull the question over. His blue eyes flickered over to the Salarian, and he let loose the biggest grin he could muster. "You had better hope so Salarian!" He shouted, his razor sharp teeth glistening in the low light. "I want to show the galaxy just what Krogan perfection can do!" Grunt kept his façade of confidence up, only so that it would improve the moral of his team. He was scared shitless of the thing. He lost many good men to reapers, and he would be damned before he lost anymore.

The shuttle shuttered, and the green ready lights turned red. The turians stood at attention, and waited for the door to open. Once it opened, they were the first to exit, followed by the humans and batarian, next were the asari, then finally the Salarian. Grunt was the last one out of the shuttle, and pounded on the side of the cabin. "Take the shuttle out of the reaper, if things go bad, we don't need our ride getting destroyed."

"Understood sir," The pilot answered, the shuttle went into the air, and exited the reaper. Grunt turned to his team, and cocked his shotgun. They all turned and waited for orders.

"Turians, form the flanks! Asari who are skilled in biotic defense, get in the middle. I want offensive biotics in the front and back. Salarian! You are going to stay right by my side. Batarian and non biotics, split up, and cover the rear." Grunt took a breath after he finished setting up the formation, then looked around at his team, "In case you don't know, we are here to investigate this reaper, and the one life form in the center of the ship! Keep your eyes and ears open, and you might just survive. Move out!" Grunt took point, and cautiously walked through the reaper. He didn't like it, there were corpses everywhere but no signs that anyone had tampered with them. "Salarian, activate a scanner, and tell me where we want to go."

The Salarian nodded, and activated his 'tool. There was a faint beeping on originating from his gauntlet. "Sir, the life form is approximately three hundred meters in that direction. There is also a large amount of dark energy originating from that direction. I would assume it is the core."

Grunt nodded, and kept his eyes forward. He would occasionally hear the sound of breaking bones under his foot, and snarled. "Come out and fight!" His patience was wearing thin, and now the act of not fighting whatever was here. It was driving him insane.

"Do you really wish to fight me?" A voice called out from the darkness.

"Sir, the life form, it move!"

"Where?" Grunt turned his head from side to side, ready for anything.

He then noticed that the salarian had stopped his nervous shaking, and turned to the amphibian, "Right in the middle of us krogan." The Salarian's eyes were glowing an ethereal blue, one that Grunt had become accustomed to see in Husks. He took his shotgun, and pummeled the Salarian's head. He heard a satisfying crunch, and knew he killed him on impact. The next thing he knew, he heard the rest of his squad train their weapons on him.

"Sir! Why did you just do that?"

Grunt turned to his team, "Didn't you see his eyes? Didn't you hear his voice?" Grunt raised his gun at his team, and readied to fire, "He was possessed by the reaper!"

"He was possessed, indeed," a new form emerged from the darkness, and stood in the middle of Grunt's squad. Grunt aimed at him, but didn't fire. He didn't know why, but he couldn't pull the trigger. "I don't think so little krogan. You wouldn't want to hurt your friends now would you?" Grunt noticed the red glow in his eyes, and the scars that covered his exposed skin.

"They aren't my friends?" Grunt replied, but he couldn't pull the trigger. He didn't know what was preventing his trigger, it was something he had never felt before. Suddenly, he realized what he was feeling. He felt absolute fear... He feared this man more than the reaper.

"Aren't you the one who thought, 'I'll be damned before I lose anyone else to a reaper?" The man grabbed an asari's face, but she didn't react. It was as if she was frozen. "Don't worry, they can't hear us. Not yet."

"What do you want?" Grunt asked through gritted teeth, he was slowly trying to work past his fear of the man. He couldn't lose to him, he was the genetic perfection.

"It isn't what I want... oh no, not at all. It is what destiny wants." The man was absolutely content with just standing there. He didn't make any hostile moves, but he presented an aura of intimidation. It told Grunt that he wasn't to be messed with without consequence.

"Why are you here?" Grunt could finally move his trigger finger, but his team mates were still in the way. Then he remembered what Shepard told him just after the Reaper War ended. Victory, no matter the cost... Those words were what decided my choice. I sacrificed the Geth, EDI, and all other AIs just so I could kill the reapers. If I had a chance to change it... I would make my choice all over again. Grunt narrowed his eyes and made his choice. "Don't answer that." He pulled the trigger and fired at the man.

He disappeared, and Grunt's salvo hit the asari he was next to where the man stood. Then all of his squad slowly came back to reality. "Where are you coward!"

"I'm right here." One by one, all of Grunt's squad started turning into the man he had tried to kill, and soon he couldn't tell the difference between friend and enemy.  
"Is this what Wrex meant? Is this what he meant when lines blurred?" Grunt took a deep breath and knew what he had to do. "I am sorry, but this is what I have to do." He cocked his shotgun, and charged at what used to be his team

* * *

Maikeru watched the carnage, his grin only showing a portion of his immense pleasure. He listened to the squad as they were torn apart by their leader. He was almost done having his fun, but he couldn't decide what to do with his new toy. Destroy it or send him back to the Citadel as a message. Maybe one of the voices he heard in his head would help him decide.

Maikeru stood up, and started walking away, picturing the many ways to torture his enemies.

* * *

**So, for all those Grunt Fans out there, don't hate me, but it had to be someone. And I couldn't anger all those Garrus fans *Whispers under breath* yet. This should get really dark, and Maikeru will just be a blight to the galaxy. I seriously have no idea where I'm going with this, so please hang with me. Oh, and if you review for what you want to happen to Grunt, you just might get it.**


	3. Chapter 3

Maikeru looked at Grunt, the poor krogan was babbling on and on about how he was going to kill him. Maikeru couldn't help but laugh at the pitiful excuse for a sentient life form. So easily broken, it was almost too much for him to think about. Maikeru wondered how such primitive life forms could defeat the false reapers. After a few hours, Maikeru thought it would be appropriate to send the little attack dog back to its master, and snapped his fingers.

Suddenly Grunt's mind was clear, and he opened a comm channel, "I need evac... now." His voice was monotone, and held little inflection. To anyone that had been present, it was clear that he was under the full control of Maikeru. Too bad everyone here to witness the, once so proud, krogan breaking under his thumb was dead.

"_Commander Grunt! I haven't heard from you in hours, what happened in there?_"

"I don't have time to explain, now get the shuttle to the LZ." Grunt started walking back towards the area he came from, and Maikeru felt the vibrations of a shuttle entering the pretender.

"_I'm waiting for you to return."_

"Good." Maikeru started following Grunt, flaring his crimson red biotics occasionally. He still wondered what he should do with Grunt, especially since he wanted to send Shepard a proper message. He thought for a moment and decided what he was going to do. His lips curled up in a sinister fashion as the two approached the shuttle. Maikeru used his mental abilities to keep the pilot from noticing him. Once Grunt was in the shuttle, Maikeru let his biotics flare one more time. This time he swung his arm, and a thin barrier field fired from the tips of his fingers. The field went straight through Grunt's body, but there was no visible effect on him... yet. "Tell the pilot to take you directly to Shepard."

"Pilot... Take me..." Maikeru felt Grunt fighting his control, and suddenly became very angry. He clamped down on Grunt's mind, and forced him to finish the sentence. "To Shepard..." Maikeru created a barrier around his mouth before he could belay his own orders.

"Sure thing boss, next stop, Human Embassy." Maikeru watched as the shuttle left, and started laughing in a maniacal fashion. "Oh, this is almost too good to be true... Everything is going the way I planned it... Now, there is only one variable to lock into place, and I know how to do it." Maikeru looked up for a second, and thought about the shuttle that just left. "Well, I probably should have hopped on. Oh well." Maikeru shrugged, and focused on seeing what his new pet did.

* * *

Grunt paced back and forth in the shuttle, he couldn't remember how he got inside, and didn't know why he had blood on his body. He remembered a man... no not a man, he was something else. He was more powerful, a god? Yes, that is what he saw. Grunt saw a god in flesh. That's what he thought it was. There was no way anyone else would believe him. They would have to see his power for themselves. His team... Grunt wondered what had happened to his team. There was an apology, gunfire... then it was a blank. Did he kill them? No, he couldn't have, he made sure that they would all make it back. That is why he told the Salarian to stay next to him. What happened after that? Grunt wasn't sure, first the god appeared... then he was in the shuttle. He must have gone into a blood rage. That was the only explanation.

Grunt felt the shuttle land, and was about to open the door when his comm rang, "Grunt?" It was Shepard's voice... Why did he have to see Shepard? Grunt was about to answer the call, when he was given an answer. He had to tell Shepard about the God, and what he could do. That was right. After he was sure of it, he answered the call.

"Shepard, I'm going to deliver the report to you personally," Grunt didn't notice it, but his voice was off. It was monotone, as if he wasn't in full control of himself at present.

"Grunt, are you alright?" Grunt wondered why Shepard would ask that. There wasn't anything wrong with him. In fact, he never felt better in his whole life. Maybe that itch inside of his plates was a little annoying, but it was nothing he couldn't handle. A nice bath with his wife would solve that. He couldn't wait to see his wife again, it had been nearly a week since he had seen her. No, it was two weeks, that's right. He took her to see a movie two weeks ago. Grunt then remembered that his wife was back on Tuchanka, and that he didn't live on the Citadel. He shook his head of those thoughts, and got out of the shuttle.

"Never better Shepard." Grunt started walking towards the human Embassy, "I'll meet you in your office."

* * *

Shepard was nervous, Grunt sounded strange, but then again he came back from a reaper. Shepard couldn't help but think of the possibility that the anti-indoctrination armor didn't do anything against a living reaper. He heard the door beep, and knew Grunt was outside the door. He reached under his desk, and pulled out a pistol. He stood up, and crossed his arms behind his back, hiding the pistol. "Come in Grunt."

Grunt's armor was completely covered in blood, all different colors. "Shepard, I've come to report what I saw." Again Shepard noted the strange tone that Grunt was using. It wasn't like him to be monotone, his voice always gave away his emotions, and he was always in one emotional extreme or another.

"Grunt, what happened out there?" Shepard asked making sure he was far enough away for his pistol to still be effective. Without his Cerberus implants, that were destroyed by the crucible, he wasn't the same commander Shepard, and couldn't handle a krogan head on in a fight like before.

"Shepard, it was wonderful. I met God!" Grunt's face turned into a smile, one that sent shivers up Shepard's spine. He had seen the smile before, on the faces of all those that revered the reapers. "He was glorious. He showed me the true path. Shepard... you can't beat him. You can't beat me."

Shepard turned, and aimed his gun at Grunt, "Dammit Grunt!" he shouted, a tear forming in his eye, "Why you? Why did they have to get to you?"

"..." Grunt's face turned into one of distress, as if he didn't know what to do, "Shep...pard...I'm sorry..." Several areas of Grunt's armor suddenly started leaking blood. After a few seconds, his arm fell off and was followed by the rest of his head. Soon Grunt's body laid in pieces in front of Shepard.

There were several red disks where Grunt's body once stood, each one had the same glow as the Omega 4 relay before it was destroyed by the crucible pulse. "Shepard, how nice to finally meet you." A voice said as the red discs reformed into a body. "I know what you are thinking, this shouldn't be possible. That there is no way for this to be happening if this form wasn't a hologram."

Shepard's eyes began glowing with the rage he felt. "You killed Grunt..." His arm shook as he tried to control it. "You killed my friend!"

"Yes, I did." the biotic form walked around Shepard's office, "This is just the beginning. I'm going to teach you that you can't escape the reapers."

"Who are you!" Shepard fired at the figure, only for his shots to be absorbed by the biotics. He couldn't control his anger, and wanted to kill whatever this was. He hadn't felt so much hatred towards someone since the day that Ashley died on Virmire.

"I no longer have a name, but if you must call me something... call me... Occasus."

"Why?"

"Because I will bring the end of your life, just as the sunset ends the day." The figure disappeared suddenly, and Shepard was left in his office. He dropped his gun, and fell to his knees. Shepard screamed as he thought what just happened. He heard the door open, and a security team came in. "Sir, are you... is that Spectre Grunt?"

"Why didn't you hear the gunshots?" Shepard looked up, and noticed his security detail was extremely late.

"Sir, what gunshots?" The question caused Shepard to look at his gun, and he saw that his thermal clip didn't have any shots taken from it. He didn't fired his gun... was that entire interaction... in his mind? Shepard shook his head. "Find my wife and daughter. Make sure they are safe, and bring them to me!"

"Sir, may I ask-"

"Do as I said!" Shepard shouted as he glared at the guard.

"Yessir!" the guard saluted, and went back out the door.

* * *

Maikeru smiled as he came back to his reality. It was time to start planning for the destruction of Shepard. Maikeru stood up, the suddenly felt tired. His vision began to blur. It was a strange feeling, and he didn't know what was happening to him. He felt to the ground, the world going black around him.


	4. Chapter 4

**Another chapter of reaper rising, and I'm coming up with new ideas for this plotline every day. Let's just say that none of you will expect where I'm taking this.**

* * *

There was a forest, it felt familiar to John Shepard. In fact he knew he had been here before. Voices were calling his name from every direction, and nowhere at same time. The last time John had been in this dream, there had been a young boy. One that the catalyst took form of at the end of the reaper war, but now there was nothing. That was until John heard a snapping twig behind him. He turned around, and saw his daughter. "Why are you here Tila?" he asked the young asari. Even though she was twenty, she still looked like a four-year old. John started walking towards her when a figure appeared behind her.

"Hello John," the man said, his voice sounding like a geth's, "Do you wonder what this place is?" The man's body was incomplete, and was completely made of cybernetics, save for parts of his head.

"Do I want to know what it is?" John asked, standing in a defensive posture. His mind raced on ways to bring Tila to him, but he couldn't think of a safe way to do it.

"You know exactly who I am," he answered, suddenly his body started to morph into a grotesque being that barely resembled the man before. "But how do you see me? As a monster? A murderer? No, you see me as salvation. I can save you, but you don't yet know how.'

"How can you save me! How can you be anyone's salvation, when all you've brought is pain and suffering?" The councillor was angry, and he couldn't hide it. Which was something he prided himself on for a long time.

"Am I not the same as you? You brought pain as well, you've brought sorrow, and you have brought death."

"I only killed when necessary! I cured the Genophage, I saved the Rachni, and I defeated the Reapers!"

"At what cost?" Figures started appearing next to the monster, each one a face John could only see in his memories. Mordin was covered in burns and missing his arm, Kaiden had a bullet hole through his chest. Anderson, the man who was his father figure for years, stood by the monster and put his hand on its shoulder, like he had done so many times to him years ago. Thane, Legion, Ashley, Tali, and Cortez stood with him. All of John's friends that he had lost during the reaper war all stood with the monster, and each one stood against him. "You lost so much, was it worth it? Was the life of all the people you sacrificed a proper payment to destroy the reapers?"

The betrayal that Shepard felt was unbearable, and he closed his eyes, "Why are you doing this?" One by one, each of his friends were engulfed in flames, but none of them moved. They were unmoving, as if a tree that had been ready to die.

"Because Commander," the monster started morphing again, and took the form of Shepard. "I want to destroy you." He and Tila were engulfed in flames together, and eventually all that was left was the ashes of his friends.

Shepard let down a single tear as he felt the world begin to fade. He woke up with a start, and turned to make sure Liara was laying next to him. He brushed her cheek gently, feeling the warmth of her skin. He sighed as he laid down again, then felt Liara stir. "John..." she said groggily, "What is the matter?" she moved closer to her husband's body, and put her arm around his chest.

"Just a bad dream..." He answered, not wanting to give her any details. "It must have stemmed from Grunts death."

"Shepard..." Liara said as she snuggled into his body, "There wasn't anything you could do. It was unavoidable."

"I don't know if it was," he sat up, and closed his eyes, "maybe all of this could've been avoided..."

"John!" Liara said sternly, sitting up with him, "We both know that if you didn't destroy the reapers, you would have died."

"Is that reason enough to ruin so many lives? A large amount of Quarians died from their suits being shut down, I destroyed the Geth entirely... I killed EDI, and broke my promise to Jeff."

"Why don't you call him Joker?" she asked, placing a hand on his bare back. It was clear she was worried about him. In all the years that they had been married, she never once saw him regret his decision to destroy all Synthetics in the galaxy.

"I don't deserve to call him a friend," John answered. His voice was solemn, and filled with guilt that Liara had never seen inside of him. She couldn't stand to see her husband this way, and it broke her heart. She kissed his cheek gently, and closed her eyes.

"Let us deal with this in the morning, when we are rested," she told him laying back down on the bed. John followed her, but couldn't sleep. His dreams were too much, and he didn't want to relive the reaper war.

* * *

Maikeru awoke, and felt something inside of his back. When he turned his head, there was a tugging sensation, and his movements were restricted. He felt his back, and realized there were thousands of wires inside of him. The synthetic flesh on his back was torn, and showed the cybernetic body he was given years ago. He was angry that this part of his body was visible, it was the one thing he hated about his body. "Pretender! Why am I hooked up like a damned machine?!"

"I am sorry master," Pretender answered, "but your power source had been drained by your use of Dark Energy. I had to connect you to my own in order to keep you alive."

Maikeru wasn't completely surprised by this turn of events, mostly because most of his body had been in standby before Pretender crashed on the Olympus planet. He tried to stand up, and knew he would have to find a way to move around freely. He closed his eyes and thought of several possibilities. "Pretender, I need you to create a clone of my body."

"Why, master?" Pretender's monotone voice gave no hint to his obvious confusion.

"I need a body that isn't limited in movement as my own is. I can control a brain dead clone easily," he answered. His biotics flared red, and he began rearranging the room to fit his purposes. The bed that his wires had been connected to turned into a throne, and the cords were reconnected to the ceiling to allow more movement.

"I understand."

"You understand, what?" he asked the living dreadnought.

"I understand, master."

"Good, now get to work."


End file.
